PS 2664 
.P15G6 





3 vP - > 

• • * \ * 

A > 



^ o 






^- -^^ • 



V 















^^ 






• • • * iA ^^ 






t • o 



"^ 



'^ 




^^' 

^ o 






•<P r\ > o " o ^ 'Vn 






y 






<G V--* ^ o « S - ^- V 

^^^ '^^^ ■-•:^»f:^ ^0^%- %t^^ / "^o, V. . 




" ° ♦ (D_ 






-\^ 









'o . , - ,G^ 






V^ " o « 



h^ 



'<---►" .G 



t ' • 



s 



4 O 



.^\ 



O " O 










G^ -^^ 
4 O 

<y ^ s • * ' > 






.0-.^ 



.f^ 



4 o 



C\ 






•*%, 






.v 






O N 







^5^ 



<^- 






y • 



< 



•^7^ 



N O 










y 



B I T 



^V..". 



oV 



.^^ 



















o 



-'^-^ '^ ,<^ '^^ 



V - * • - 



V. * « O ^ O,^ 




^, 



6-^>rv4 




vtjL^Uyyx^^ 



i8C3_. 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1862, by H. Clay Prbtjss, in the Clerk's office of the District 
Court of the United States for the District of Columbia. 



GOD SAVE OUR NOBLE UNIOJf! 

AND 

OTHER POEMS FOR THE TIMES; 

ALSO, 

METEOPOIITAN KOTES OF MEN AND THINGS AT WASHINGTON, 



REPLY TO CHARGES OF DISLOYALTY BY THE POTTER INVESTIGATING COM- 
MITTEE. 



By m clay preuss, 

II 

AUTHOR OF "fashions AND FOLLIES OF "WASHINGTON LIFB." 



[From the National Intellig»nc«r.] 
TO THE PUBLIC. 

My name having appeared in a recent publication in the New York Tribune, accompanied 
with some very vague and indefiuite charges of disloyalty, 1 deem it a duty to myself to re- 
spectfully submit the following statement to the public, however painful it may be to thus 
obtrude myself persoually upon their attention: 

For sevetal years past it has been my earnest study to comprehend, as far as my 
humble capacity might enable me, the great leading principles of our national civili- 
zation and development. With this end in view, and occupying as I did a subordinate 
clerical position under my Government, I have studiously avoided contact with the popular 
agitations of the day — never during this period having intruded myself in the arena of 
politics until politics became submerged into nationality. Those who have known me best 
from my early lite, whether personally or through my contributions to the public press, can 
testify that my devotion to the Union has been almost a religion. With the broad, basic 
idea of national unity firmly fixed in my mind, I have never for one moment, lost hold of 
the great bond of our national brotherhood. I have deplored the errors, grieved at the 
defects, and felt proud of the virtues of all sections of my country. History taught me that 
the true secret of England's greatness was the grafting of the Norman flower upon the 
Anglo-Saxon stock ; and I have long l^een convinced that the grand problem of American 
nationality can be successfully solved only by the blending of the solid, granite temperament 
of the North, with the more pliable, mercurial temperament of the South. I beheld with 
painful anxiety the antagonism between our great elemental interests of agriculture in the 
South, and commerce and manufactures in the North ; but I hailed with joy the advent of 
the young giant of the West, whose rapid growth I foresaw would cause the North and 
South to fraternize against the Western interest, and thus restore a perfect balance, and the 
old harmony of our fathers. Feeling in my inmost soul that God has formed us of *' one 
flesh and one blood," and bound us with his "everlasting bonds of lake, gulf, and river," 
I believe that if ail this glorious framework of external government were to fall into fragments 
to-day, and its Constitution and laws pass into dead parchment, yet the indestructible *omZ 
of this Union, buried deep in the popular heart, would soon find its resurrection day, when 
it would burst from its throbbing sepulchre, and reunite the elements of its old body in 
more perfect harmony, strength, and beauty ! 

Such is my faith in the Union. And as a man, while loving his family first, and most 
dearly, has y&t room enough in his heart for his friends, so an American citizen, while re- 
garding the Union as the paramount whoie, need never disown his affection for his nativt 



I 



\ 






State as & part of that whole. I confess I love my home nnd kindred ; I love the old fire- 
Mide, with all the associations of childhood that cluster arouad it — I huve always felt it was 
hitman to do eo — but, so help me God, I love my country more ; and I have never hesitated to 
subordinate all mere personal or local predilections vo the higher law of loyalty to my Uov- 
ernment. At the opening of this rebellion I honestly belif^ved that the masses of the South- 
ern people had been misled, to a great extent, by designing politicians ; and, while I rep- 
robated their disloyalty, I pitied their blindness, even as the judge pities the unhappy 
criminal, when, after sentence of death, he adds, "and may God have mercy on your 
soul!" And this pity, recognized and sanctioned by the stern letter of our criminal law, 
has been tortured into '■'■ sympathy for the Southern movement!^'' However honest others 
may have been in entertaining more vindictive sentiments, for my own rule of conduct in 
life I have adopted this formula, which I derived from the law of the Great Teacher of 
Gallilee : Everything for justice, nothing for revenge ! And by this formula lam determined 
to live and die. 

In conclusion, I will add that, however desirous I was of a peaceful solution of the vexed 
questions of the day, the yevy moment that the constituted ruler of my country was com- 
jaelled, by the solemn obligations of his official oath, to take measures to enforce the laws 
and protect the public property, that moment I took my decided stand agninst open rebel- 
lion ; and, as I am prepared to prove by unimpeachable testimony, I publicly declared my 
readiness, whenever called upon, to offer my life in defence of the Government, and have 
labored unceasingly from that time to the present moment in disseminating through the 
public press the soundest and most unequivocal sentiments of loyalty to my couutry. A 
tree is known by its fruits, and a man by his works ; and I here respectfully refer the pub- 
lic to a printed collection, soon to be issued from the press, of ray patriotic contributions 
to the loyal papers of the day. 

H. CLAY TREUSS. 



GOD SAVE Omi NOBLE UNION. 



This poem was originally published in the "Evening Star," (1857.) It has appeared three times in one 
paper alone, ( " Boston Post,") and was published with original music in the •• Household Journal," ( 1860. ) 



It came to us through darkness, 
It came to us through blood ; 
It shone out like the "Promise 
Of God" upon the flood. 
A beacon — it has served us 
With true, unerring flame. 
And cast a blaze of glory 
Upon our nation's name — 

God save our noble Union ! 



Where earth lay hid for ages 
In deep, primeval gloom, 
Behold a boundless garden — 
A continent in bloom! 
With iron bands of railroads. 
Electric tongues of wire, 
And energies within us 
Which time. shall never tire — 

God save our noble Union! 



"f was left us by our fathers, 
Those souls of priceless worth — 
The noblest types of manhood 
That ever walked the earth. 
'Twas bought with fearful struggles, 
By sacrifice sublime, 
And stands a proud memento 
For all the coming time — 

God save our noble Union! 



But now upon our heaven 
Are signs of fearful storms ; 
And dark, unholy passions 
Unfold their hideous forms. 
The bravest hearts among us 
Are filled with doubt and fear ; 
While sounds of horrid discord 
Are grating on our ear — 

God save our noble Union! 



Ourlantl a waste of nature. 
Where beast and savage strayed ; 
Its wealth of lakes and rivers 
Unlocked by keys of trade ; 
Then, sunlike rose the Union — 
A terror to our foes — 
And lo ' this "waste of nature" 
Now "blossoms as the rose!" — 

God save our noble Union ! 



The hallowed flag that bore us 
So proudly through the wars — 
Is there a hand would sever 
Its sisfprhood of stars ? 
Great God ! can we so blindly 
Cast all Thy gifts away? 
Or throbs there in this nation 
One heart that will not pray — 

"God save our noble Union! 



W.L. Shoemaker 
J S '06 



3 



"* [From the National Intelligencer.] 

A TRIBUTE TO THE pB^^VE. ;^ \ " ' 



BEDICATFJ) TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE' COL.. JAMES CAME150N. 



A plain, substantial fariper, 

Whose y(>ars of tbrifr. and toil 
With peace aral plenty crown'd him, 

As monai-ch ot the soil ; 
One of the. " solir? y^eople," 

Whose works of brain .-itid hand 
Build up ouv nation's riches, 

And diccnify our land. 

But when his outraged country 

Called on her t-roiis for aid. 
He drop!)'.-d the spuie and ploughshare, 

And drew his battle- hhide. 
Amid the cannon'- thunder, 

That shook the pumnier air, 
Where iron hail f<Ml thickest, 

His stalwart form was there ! 
Washi/nqton^ 1861 . 



The best war-blood of Scotland 

Was burning in his veins ; 
His fiery steed seemed conscious 

A Caineron held the reins ! 
The light of glorious battle 
,t Gleamed from his master's eye, 
As, with the " bairns of Scotland," 
He gwore to "do or AH^V 

xi ti'ue man to his country 

Unto his latest breath, 
He heard the call of duty, 

And died a hero's death ! 
The mem'ry of his virtues 

Shall blossom far and wide. 
And Scotland's name of Cameron 

Shall be our nation's pride ] 



[From the New York Leader. 



PEAYER FOR THE UNION. 



A land of law and gospel peace, 

Of richest fruitp and flowers — 

God's Eden of the Western World, 

What land so blest as ours ? 

How shall we prove our grateful thanks 

To thee, Bounteous Giver ! 

Whose own right hand hath made us one, 

By lake, a>nd gulf, and river ? 

Lord ! write this law on every heart: 

" Our Union, noiv and ever I'^ 

For Thou hast taught us through Thy Son, 

That those whom Thou hast joined in one 

No human hand should sever ! 

The hero-souls, whose prophet dreams 

Shine out in classic stOry, 

Find here, at last, the " Promised Land"— 

The shrine of Freedom's glory. 

Our hallowed flag of stars and stripes. 

What mem'ries brighten o'er it : 

The hope of millions yet unborn — 



E'en despots bow before it! 

Lord I write this law on every heart : 

" Our Union, now and ever .'" 

For Thou hast taught us through Thy Son, 

That those whom Thou hast joined in one. 

No human hand should sever ! 

The serpent crept in Ere's pure heart, 

And by his cunniug won it : 

Woe, woe ! unto our Eden Land — 

The serpent's trail is on it I 

A million hands, by madness nerved, 

Would strike their common Mother : 

A million souls cry out for blood — 

The blood e'eij of a brother ! 

Oh, God ! to whom our fathers prayed. 

In bonds of sweet communion, 

Stretch forth Thy strong. Almighty hand. 

To still this tempest in our land, 

And save our blessed Union ! 



[From the National Republican.] 
DEGENERATE SONS OF ILLUSTRIOUS SIRES. 

Degenerate Sons of illustrious Sires, 

Lost, lost to all honor and nobler desires, 

From the arms of your own Mother-land ye have turned 

To fawn on the Tyrant your forefathers spurned ! 

From your high rank as peers on your own native shore, 
Ye have stooped to be beggars at Monarchy's door, 
Ye would barter your birthright as American braves. 
To become haughty England's dependents and slaves- 



^: 



To whom does the right of Revolution belong ? 

To those who have suflFered intol'rable wrong, 

But where is the wrong that should tempt you to trade 

Your nation's proud fame for the Foreigner's aid ? 

Sons of the South ! I was born in your Land, 
And I loved it for all that was noble and grand, 
I mourned o'er your folly — was tender to blame — 
Till ye brought this disgrace on America's name ! 

In the future, what proud, noble aim can ye see, 
But to cringe to, and fawn on, your Lords o'er the sea? 
Your name a foul by-word in every mouth — 
Prate no more of honor, oh, Sons of tbe South ! 



HONOR TO OUR WORKMEN! 



PRIZE SONG FROM THE "HOUSEHOLD JOURNAL." 



Whom shall we call our heroes. 
To whom our praises sing ? 
The pampered child of fortune, 
The titled Lord or King? 
They live by others' labor, 
Take all, and nothing give — 
The noblest types of manhood 
Are they who tvorJc to live. 

Then, honor to our workmen, 
Our hardy sons of toil — 
The heroes of the workshop. 
And monarchs of the soil ! 

Who spans the earth with iron. 
And rears the palace-dome ? 
Who creates for the rich man 
The comforts of his home ? 
It is the patient toiler — 
All honor to him, then ! 
The true wealth of a nation 
Is in her working men. 

For many barren ages 
Earth hid her treasures deep, 
And all her giant-forces 
Seemed bound as in a sleep : 



Then Labor's " Anvil-Chorus" 
Broke on the startled air, 
Apd lo ! the earth in rapture 
Laid all her riches bare ! 

'Tis toil that over nature 
Gives man his proud control, 
And purifies and hallows 
The temple of his soul. 
It startles foul diseases. 
With all their ghastly train — 
Puts iron in the muscle, 
And crystal in the brain ! 

The Grand Almighty Builder, 
Who fashioned out the earth, 
Hath stamped his seal of honor 
On labor from her birth. 
In every angel flower 
That blossoms from the sod, 
Behold the master touches — 
The handiwork of God ! 

Then, honor to our workmen. 
Our hardy sons of toil — 
The heroes of the workshop, 
And monarchs of the soil ! 



[From the Sunday Morning Chronicle.] 
DON'T STAND ON THE TRACK ! « 



A thought thrills my soul with a feeling of awe, 

That life is a railway, whose engine is law. 

Which knoweth no rest, and never turns back, 

While it shrieks out its warning — " don't stand on the track .'" 

The Iron-horse, Progress, forever rolls on. 

Old principles die, and new ones are born ; 

We must go with the engine that never turns back, 

Or else heed the warning — " don't stand on the track!" 

There are laws for the body, and laws for the soul, 
By yielding obedience, their foroe we control : 
They know no exemption for whitex)r for black — 
Then hark! to the warning — ^^ don't stand on the track!" 



Young man ! keep awake on the journey of life, 
Your pathway with terrible danger is rife ; 
The speed of the Iron-horse never grows slack — 
For the love of your life — " donH stand on the track !'* 

Shun the fumes of the cup as a rattlesnake's breath — 
You are playing with fire that will burn you to death : 
Yield not to temptation, though fierce its attack — 
Remember the warning — " don't stand on the track f^ 

With eye never closing, your watch you must keep, 
For our passions are often like wild beasts asleep : 
Sin takes from the soul what it never brings back — 
For the sweet hope of Heaven — ^^ don't stand on the track!" 

*-•-» 

METROPOLITAN NOTES. 



[From the Suffolk Herald.] 

Washington, November 21, 1861. 
""" *' Too many cooks spoil the broth," and two many bosses spoil the work. The great draw- 
back upon our Government has hitherto been that we have bad too many bosses, military, 
civil, and editorial. Our "pie" was compounded of excellent materials, well seasoned with 
lead and gunpowder, but the great misfortune was, there were too many "fingers" in it ; 
and when we put it on the fire at Bull Run it got completely spoiled in cooking. That diffi- 
culty is remedied now. The President has given us one boss onltf, who thoroughlj' under- 
stands his work. In General McClellan we have a live man, fresh from the people, who has 
felt the popular pulse, and knows how to " doctor the disease." The influence of this 
master-mind is felt here like a change in the atmosphere; our clouds have melted into sun- 
shine, and the crude, discordant elements of an immense, newly-organized army have be- 
come toned down to perfect order and military discipline. 

Our "General-in-Chief,'' although a profound thinker and rapid actor, is a poor talker, 
and therefore deficient in one very important accomplishment of the age, viz : " gift of 
gab." The French, a nation of talkers, voted Napoleon a fool because he wanted this "gift 
of p-ab" — Napoleon went quietly on his way, kept his own counsel, and is now acknowl- 
edged the pnofouodest diplomatist of Europe. Our people have a strong family likeness to 
the French, We " go it strong" on the tongue. To say a man " can't make a speech" is 
almost as bad as saying "he can't keep a hotel." Talent, or merit, without "gab," is 
like a bird without wings — it can't rise. The truth of the matter is, silence may indicate 
either a great fool or a very wise man. The fool is silent because h« has nothing to say ; 
the wise man is silent because to think, and to do, leaves him no time to talk. When he 
does talk, it is in deeds, not words. Each great thought that is born in his brain comes 
out a live act. 

I was much amused at the remarks of a friend who was recently favored with a close 
personal inspection of our Commander-in-Chief: "As soon as I laid my eyes on him I felt 
that I was in the presence of a great man ; he had the ring of the simon-pure metal about 
him, but the devil of it was I could'nt locate his greatness — it seemed to spread out in the 
very atmosphere around him. I was very sure of one thing, however : wherever his great- 
ness was, it was not on his tongue. Unlike most of our distinguished big-bugs, there was 
no ^palaver' about this McClellan. I must confess I was disappointed at first. I like a 
good talker ; I like to see a smart man show his 'points' handsomely. But after all, there's 
a considerable difference between a smart man and a great man. Water, when it gets in a 
stew, kicks up a great noise ; but when it boils, and you have to put your ear close to hear 
it simmer, then it goes to work in real earnest, until its hot breath wakes up the iron 
horse, and sends him bounding over a continent, ' neck and neck' with the winds, and 
laden with the rich treasures of a nation." H. C. P. 



[From the Baltimore American.] 

Washington, Jti,nuary 28, 1862. 
The appointment of Mr. Stanton as Secretary of War is one of the most sionificant signs 
of the times; it opens, in fact, a new chapter in our political history. For the last twenty 
or thirty years the solid men of our nation have been contented to attend to their own 
business and let politics " slide." While very particular as to the character and qualifica- 
tions of their own employees, at the ballot box they " went it blind," (if they went at all,) 
from President down to town constable. This plan of letting politics " slide" was a very 



6 

easy, comfortable, down-hill operation at first, but politics have been, sliding so long that 
we have begun to slide with them ; till now we have reached the *' jumping-off place," and 
the human soul starts back with horror at the gaping chasm of misery and ruin which 
threatens to engulf our unhappy nation. 

The fiery ordeal through which we are passiug has already worked out one grand, blessed 
result. It is scattering to the winds the tinsel gewg-aws of bogus reputations ; with its red hot 
hand it is ripping off the outside crust and getting down to the solid strata of true manhood. 
Unswerving honesty, high toned honor, sound judgment, substantial business qualities, and 
many other old-fashioned articles, are now in considerable demand in the market. Men 
are beginning to feel the awful presence of a moral universe, as perfect in all its organic parts 
as the solid earth on wliich we tread ; that we can no more violate any God-ordained law of 
this moral universe and escape the penalty, than we can put our physical hand in the fire 
and escape burning. " Honest Old Abe" is evidently impressed with this truth, and he 
realizes also the necessity of rallying around him the soundest elements of the nation to sus- 
tain him in the great trial. For his Seci'etary of War he has selected a man — not for his skill 
in manipulating political wires — not because of his vast moneyed power or bogus popu- 
larity with the mob — but simply because he is a true man, fresh from the people, untainted 
by the atmosphere of partisan politics, of a firm, decided character, possessing rare pro- 
fessional and business qualifications, and of unflinching devotion to the Union. 

In these fearful times which are trying men's souls with temptation even more than their 
bodies with pain or privation, God grant that there may be no want of just, good, and true 
men to uphold our nation's noble cause. H. C. P. 



■<♦•»> 



[From the Baltimore American.] 

Washington, November 6, 1861. 

It has been wisely said that "men are but children of larger growth." The best place 
to study human nature is the school-house. There we find humanity in puris naiuralibus, 
untrammelled by the tricks of social etiquette, of s^hrewd selfishness or refined hypocrisy. 
Let us here cite an illustration. Boy A says to boy B "you struck my brother." B re- 
plies, " He struck me first." A rejoins, "No matter, you struck my brother." And here, 
having exhausted his small store of logic, he jumps rapidly to his conclusions in the form 
of sundry blows, kicks, and other "knockdown arguments," and, if strong enough, he 
succeeds in giving B a sound flogging — and for what? Because B was in the wrong, or had 
inflicted any unjust injury upon him or his brother? Oh, no, that point was entire^ly 
" ruled out of the case." A flogs B merely because B '^struck my brother." 

This simple illustration, so far, at least, as relates to the border States, covers the whole 
ground of the present civil strife which is now deluging our land in blood. North Carolina, 
Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri, were all known to be sound, patriotic Union 
States. According to popular sentiment there, South Carolina was very wrong in forcibly 
seceding from the Union, and violating her part of the constitutional compact. And yet, 
by some mysterious process of logic, although South Carolina was wrong, the United States 
Government was still more in the wrong in attempting to make that wrong right. A Gov- 
ernment stretching over a continent of land, and involving the destinies of millions, was not 
to be sapped at its foundation and frittered to the winds at the mere bidding of crafty 
politicians, playing upon a misguided populace. Oh, no, by no means. And yet, when 
the President, under the solemn obligation of his constitutional oath, called for the neces- 
sary men and means to protect the public property, and enforce the laws, then the cry 
went forth, " You struck my brother." And it was from this sublimely logical premise that 
North Carolina, Virginia, Tennes^e, and large numbers in Kentucky, Missouri, and 
Maryland, jumped to the conclusion of "war to the knife" with the National Government, 
and thus violated the solemn compact of their fathers. 

Man is possessed of a dual nature — his purely intellectual or rational, and his emotional 
or impulsive nature — the former being acted upon by principles of absolute justice, and the 
latter by his affections, local predilections, and instincts of race. A small class of men who 
have been favored with a high degree of moral and intellectual culture, can readily dis- 
criminate between those two opposing natures within them, and can subordinate the lower 
law of inclination or affection to the higher law of duty. But alas ! the larger portion of 
poor, frail humanity is more readily controlled by appeals to their brute instincts than by 
the calm deductions of reason, and the higher law of abstract justice. 

" Be Just and fear not." Here is a gr-od old Bible lesson which we have been learning for 
1800 years, and hav'nt "got by heart" yet. And it is our neglect of this wise admoni- 
tion — it is the absence of fixed principles, as opposed to a mere shifting expediency, and 
want of reverence for law and constitutional authority — our gross unfaithfulness to our 
duties and responsibilities as good citizens — the vitiation of our national morals by the 



tricks of trade, the madness of speculation, and lust of display, which, for many years 
past, has been eating like a deadly cancer at the heart of our nation, manifesting itself in a 
variety of unnatural symptoms, until it has at last culminated in open rebellion, and we be- 
hold the fair form of our beautiful Union all blotched over and ditfigured by one huge fes- 
tering sore of civil strife ! May the Great Physician lay his healing hand upon our wounds. 
G-od grant that we may pass safely through the fiery furnace, purified by our sufferings, 
and once more regain our proud nosition as the model nation of the world. 

H. C. P. 



[From the Suffolk Hgrald.} . 

. Washington, iVoDew6e/ 15, 1861. 

One of the besetting sins of the American people is " hurry, ^* We arje too fast in every- 
thing excep.c going to Heaven, and like "all the world and the rest of mankind," we do 
drive rather slow teams on that road. This propensity to "hurry up the cakes" was" 
strikingly illustrated at the opening of the present rebellion. Many of our sound busiuess 
men, our wise philosophers on 'Change, regarded the organizing of the necessary military 
force, and consequent early crushing out of the rebellion, as a mere business transaction, 
to be "put through" in the shortest possible time. Time was the all-absorbing considera- 
tion. The indispensable ma^e?-?eZ of war: military training — experienced generalship — 
patient discipline — all were made; secondary to the great question of time — and the result 
was the battle of Ball Run, with its disastrous effects to the country. Since this event, 
however, public sentiment has undergone a rapid and entire change in reference to the 
true war-policy of the Government. A nation that has been so many years asleep in peace 
and prosperity requires a pretty severe shaking before it can fully awaken to the terrible 
realities of war. We are beginning to realize the magnitude of the present struggle — 
stretching over half a continent, where there is room enough for half a dozen respectable 
sized European nations. On the chess-board of war great games are won, not by a single 
brilliant dash, but by a grand combination of moves. The National Government, with its 
greatly superior resources, can afford to wait until the iron is thoroughly hot before strik- 
ing a great, decisive blow. The rebels, on the contrary, are playing a desperate game, 
and, like all desperate gamesters, they would gladly "make or break" by a single bold, 
daring move. Gut off from their maiastay, the cotton trade, by our blockade — greatly 
deficient both in financial and manufacturing resources — they have yet a more terrible 
enemy to deal with, viz : disaffection in tluir own ranks. Lead and gunwowder are very 
good in their way ; but something more than the material elements are required to sustain 
a people through a severe and protracted struggle. Men's souls feed on ideas, as their 
bodies feed on meat. The great, basic idea of the Southern Confederacy is already corrod- 
ing its very heart, and Secession, which first crawled into life out of the hot-beds of 
South Carolina nullification, will soon devour her own offspring! The terrible pressure 
of actual hostilities, the lies of newspapers, and tricks of demagogues in stirring up the 
vindictive passions of the people, may supply an artificial cohesive power, but the great 
work oi diiintegration is going rapidly on, and the political "dry-rot" of Secession must 
soon undermine the entire structure. -H. C. P. 



TO THE FRIENDS OF THE UDNTIOK". 

[I have been asked why I wrote the following'. Cui bono 9 I answer: When I reflect 
that our National Government is the freest and best that ever blessed a people — that it was 
devised by the wisdom, sealed by the blood, and is sanctified by the memory of the noblest 
men that ever walked God's earth — I have a firm, living faith that the cause of that Govern- 
ment is a just and righteous cause; and, as such, that it rests on a higher and nobler foun- 
dation than brute-passion or lawless violence. I value the — morale as well as the phyaique 
of our cause, and I pray God, that the brave men who are now upholding our Union on the 
battle-field, may prove themselves worthy of the noble cause they defend.] 

My Fellow-Countrymen : I desire to speak to you a few strong, honest truths. Truth 
is often as unpalatable to the mind as med,icine to the stomach. It stirs up the bile of old 
prejudices and preconceived ideai,, but in the end it is sure to impart to us a purer and a 
healthier growth. The great Truth-teller of Gallilee understood this law of our nature when 
he declared that, although a man of peace, whose kingdom was not of this world, yet he 
had come to bring the sword, and to array brother against brother. In other words, he 
knew that there would be an "irreprossible conflict" between his own divine teachings 
and the gross prejudices and passions of our imperfect humanity. 



8 



Sitting under the awful shadow of that great spirit, who walked the earth eighteen hun- 
dred years ago, drinking in with our souls those inspired utterances which have stamped 
the destiny of the ages, and are now as fiesh and redolent of immortal truth as when first 
spoken on the shores of Galilee — let us, 0, my countrymen, endeavor to lift up our minds 
above the fetid atomsphere of mortal hate which now hangs like a thick, pestilential mist 
over our unhappy land — let us ascend, with strong eagle effort, to those pure regions of 
fixed, just, immutable principles, which shine calm and bright as the stars, while the storm- 
clouds of passion and prejudice lash themselves into vain fury below 

Truth is subjective, as Well as objective. Pure, absolute truth can exist only in God. Man's 
conception of it must afways be relative. A truth however pure in itself, yet yi\iQXx jiltered 
through our individual organizationf, and acted upon by the influences surrounding us, 
must become more or less modified — tinged with our peculiar modes of thought — even as 
the whitest light becomes discolored by shining through stained glass. It is to differences 
of organizations, and early influences of education, of modes of thought, of climate, and 
customs of life, to which we must look for the solution of the strange enigma, why men of 
equal intelligence and honesty can religion ly believe each other to be the greatest fools and 
scoundrels in the world. And it is our ignorance of this important principle in our nature 
that leads us to man's inhumanity to man, and aggravates, more than other cause, the hor- 
rors of civil strive. 

There is a mental as well as a material atmosphere pervading every marked locality, 
produced by the prevailing local ideas, which we depominate "public opinion." Men 
breathe in this atmosphere from their birth, until it becomes incorporated in their very 
souls, and gives the general tone to their character and sentiments even throughout their 
after life. In some localities, public sentiment is so diseased, that men seems as if aflBiic- 
ted with a mental and moral jaundice, and see everything through a false, discolored light. 

My fellow-countrymen, we are in the midst of a terrible struggle; but let us understand 
that this struggle is not with men, but through men, with those false principles which have 
debfiuched their minds, and alienated them from our blessed Union ! 

Holding fast to the moral code of Christ as our sheet-anchor, let us do everything for jus- 
tice — nothing for revenge ! In the sacred cause of justice, we may war to the knife, but we 
should pity the victim while we strike the blow. The sternest judge recognizes this prin- 
ciple in the case of the worst criminal, wten, after sentence of death, he adds, *'and may 
God have mercy on your soul!" Fear not those who kill the body, but fear those who 
poison the soul with mortal hate. The worst punishment my enemy can inflict upon me, 
is to make me hate him ; for then he robs me of that peace which the world can neither 
give nor take away. A high moral conviction of duty loses nothing by association with hu- 
man sympathy, but becomes more godlike by the union, and imparts far more steadiness to 
the nerve, strength to the muscle, and courage to the heart, than the mere blind impulse 
of brute passion. No man was more feared by his enemies, and no man possessed a nobler 
heart or broader sympathies, than George Washington. 

Mind is mightier than matter. Ideas rule the world, and even grim lead and gunpowder 
become their obedient slaves. When a man strikes down his enemy on the fi» Id, it is not 
bone and muscle that do the work. Back of that bone and muscle is the electric nerve- 
power ; back of that nerve-power is the brain which generated; and back of that brain is 
the impalpable, but immortal idea which originated the blow, and directed the entire pro- 
cess. "Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just." One great, living idea acts like 
inspiration, aud is stronger than a battery of rifled cannon. France, under the cohesive 
magic of Bonaparte's name, became fused into a perfect unit — one huge, gigantic man, beneath' 
the tramp of whose feet Europe shook to her centre. 

My countrymen, we have a higher inspiration than France had under Bonaparte. The 
great, central idea that moves us is nobler than that of mere man-worship. It is the Union 
OF THESE States, sanctified by the blood, by the struggles, by the sublime virtues and sac- 
rifices of our fathers — that union which we recognize as the bounteous parent of all our 
present prosperity and blessed privileges, and the only hope of the millions yet unborn. 
Let us not descend from our high moral vantage ground of law and order, of constituted 
authority and popular liberty, to the low plane of mob-fury, or mere wanton violence. 
If we are blessed with a higher civilization than our misguided brethren, let us prove that 
higher civilization ! Although the stern necessities of wir may compel us in some instances 
to depart from the establi-shed precedents of peace, yet, while holding the sword of justice 
in one hand, let us not lose hold of the olive branch of peace in the other. The thunder 
of no cannon should be loud enough to drown the "still, small voice" of Christian love 
and brotherhood in our hearts. H. C. P. 

Washington City, D. C. 




r 



/ 






la 



f 



H4^78 308 l| 



^'^ G^ 













.-Jy 



V c«i<'>» ^<>>. .0" .•\'.!^ 'o. A.'^ _o°_:-. ^^ .0 






c^^ 



/^?55^r..,^ %r ^ ^V:,^^:^^\ ^, ^"^ .-.^^^.v.^ %: 












•^^-0^ 



"^^^ 



sf 






>-^- 



^^'^ 



I 



^'h- 






.^ 



5^^> 












_..^:^>. 



•^ 



o w o 



.f 



0- 












■^^ ^^ 






'^^ 






/\ ^y^^V >'^.^, 










,#^ ^ 







^. 









<'5>- f o " * -» "^^^ 



^ ^ 




-> v^' 



O N <3 



A% 



^..- .. 






-7^ 



c\ 



\ 







^\ %.^' f 










